Black Adoption Festival : Effort to Foster New Family Ties

It looked like a big family picnic, complete with hot dogs and ice cream, relay races and balloons.

And in a way, it was a family occasion--one designed to help create new families, through adoption.

The event was the county’s ninth annual Black Adoption Festival, held recently at Victoria Park in Carson. It gave prospective parents a chance to get acquainted with about 100 black youngsters who are available for adoption through the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services.

Although it is still too soon to know how many of the children will find permanent homes as a result of the event, officials said that in previous years about half of the youngsters were adopted.

“Our greatest wish is that we could put ourselves out of business and find homes for every one of these kids,” said Georgi Treder, a spokeswoman for the county adoptions program.

Black adoptive parents are especially needed because many of the children eligible for placement through the county are black, Treder said. County adoption counselors prefer to place black children with black parents so the new family has a common background to build upon, she said.

50% Are Black

The county has 3,325 youngsters being considered for adoption, and of an estimated 800 who are legally free and available for placement, about 50% are black; 40% or 45% are Latino, and the remainder are Anglo, Asian or of other racial backgrounds, Treder said. (In September, the county will hold a festival for adoptable Latino children and prospective parents at the county Arboretum in Arcadia.)

The guest register showed that more than 800 people came to see the children at the festival, co-sponsored by the county and a volunteer support group called Operation Children.

Crowds gathered eagerly for entertainment by singer Greg Walker and Hill Street Blues performer Taurean Blacque, who has himself adopted a child. But the real stars of the event were the 100 adoptable youngsters, who wore yellow T-shirts reading “A Child With a Dream. . . . Every Child Is a Winner.”

Throughout the afternoon, prospective parents stood in front of a bulletin board listing the children or waited in line to look through scrapbooks containing snapshots and information about each child. Some watched videotapes of the youngsters on television monitors and a home-movie screen.

The children range in age from infants to teen-agers, and many are school-age boys.

Some have learning or developmental disabilities, and some are children from the same family, who ideally would be placed together.

For example, among the children with special needs are sisters Samantha, Dorothy and Danielle, 4, 5 and 6; and Keith, almost 3, who was born prematurely with drugs in his system and will require special education programs.

Some of the children were briefly described. Jasmine, 4, was called an “extremely charming and personable” child, and Theodore, 4, “relates well to peers and adults, likes dogs and playing in the yard with other children,” according to adoption counselors.

An Informal Setting

Prospective parents were free to observe the children firsthand and to get acquainted in an informal setting rather than in an impersonal office.

As they roamed around the park, taking notes on which children they had their eyes on, Velma and Jeff Livsey of Los Angeles said they were looking for “a boy or a girl, it doesn’t matter.”

Harold and Eloise Ball, cooing over a 13-month-old baby named Amanda, said they have been married a year, just bought a three-bedroom house in Inglewood and are starting to think of having a family to share it.

Louise and Richard Locke of Carson, who are in their mid-40s, said that for many years they have been thinking of adopting a 4-, 5- or 6-year-old.

“We have good jobs and a nice home, and the only kids we have at home now are our two dogs,” said Richard, who has two grown children.

While the Lockes made friends with Theodore, a charming 4-year-old, Rod and Lori Watson of Los Angeles were getting acquainted with Shmeika, 9, who beguilingly recited a long list of all the goodies she had consumed at the picnic.

People from all walks of life are needed to adopt black children, according to a county brochure. Adoptive parents can be married, single, divorced or widowed; need not have other children; can work full time; and can rent or own a home. They don’t have to be within a certain age. They must be able to live within their means and be in fairly good health, according to the adoption brochure.

The county’s fee for adoption services is based on the applicant’s ability to pay, and some parents pay no fees. Financial aid for child-rearing is available, especially for pre-existing medical, dental and psychiatric problems.

“This is our first time at the festival, and it is just wonderful,” Lori Watson said. “I just wish I had a Brady Bunch house, big enough so I could take them all home.”